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Andrew Robinson

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   Andrew Jordt Robinson (born February 14, 1942) is an American film,
   stage, and television actor. Robinson is a character actor known to
   specialize in playing devious and psychotic roles. Originally a stage
   actor, he works predominantly in supporting roles on television and in
   low-budget films. He is best known for his role as the serial-killer
   Scorpio in the crime film Dirty Harry (1971), the role of Larry Cotton
   in the horror film Hellraiser (1987), and the recurring role as Elim
   Garak on the television show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999).

Education and early roles

   Robinson was born in New York City. His father was a soldier in World
   War II, and was killed when Robinson was three years old. After his
   father's death, he and his mother moved to Hartford, Connecticut to be
   raised with her family. In his later childhood, Robinson had become a
   juvenile delinquent, and was eventually sent to St. Andrew's School in
   Rhode Island, a boarding school for troubled children.

   After graduating from high school, Robinson attended the University of
   New Hampshire. After picketing the school's ROTC program his degree was
   withheld by the university, so he transferred to the New School for
   Social Research in New York City, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
   in English. He originally intended to become a journalist, but went
   into acting after gaining a Fulbright Scholarship on the suggestion of
   an art history professor. After graduating, he went to the London
   Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts on the scholarship.

   Robinson began acting in high school and college theatre. While
   attending the London Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts, Robinson
   studied Shakespeare and voice training. His first professional roles
   were as a stage actor and playwright in New York. His first role in New
   York was in the play Macbird-Macbeth. He would go on to act in
   productions throughout North America and Europe, including Woyzeck,
   Futz, and The Cannibals. In 1969 he had his first television role with
   a guest part on N.Y.P.D. at the age of 26. In 1971 he would begin
   acting in feature films.

Career

Dirty Harry

   Robinson's first feature film role was in 1971's Dirty Harry. Don
   Siegel, the film's director, and Clint Eastwood picked Robinson for the
   role after seeing him in a production of Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot.
   Robinson was cast as the Scorpio killer, the antagonist of the film.
   The Scorpio killer was heavily based on the real life serial killer
   known as the Zodiac Killer, and Robinson integrated many known aspects
   of the killer's personality into his acting, such as a disturbed sense
   of humor and a sadistic inclination to taunt his pursuers. In the film,
   his character murdered several young women and took hostage a school
   bus full of young children. His portrayal of the serial killer was so
   convincing that he began getting serious death threats after the film's
   release. Director Don Siegel noted that he cast Robinson because he had
   the face of "a choir boy."

   Critical reactions to Robinson's role were generally positive. Box
   Office Magazine wrote that, "Andy Robinson is the maniacal Scorpio ...
   a good blending of cunning and savagery." Despite the widespread
   exposure the role gave him, Robinson also found himself typecast as
   "psycho" characters. He has also claimed that the role severely limited
   his casting options, as film producers were reluctant to cast him as
   any "good guy" roles. Some of Robinson's notable "psycho" roles include
   a demented military barber in Child's Play 3 (1991), and the character
   Larry Cotton in the horror film Hellraiser (1987), in which Robinson
   had his first lead role in a feature film.

Film and television, 1971–1992

   Robinson starred in Charley Varrick, a 1973 film with Walter Matthau.
   He played the role of Frank Ryan on the soap opera Ryan's Hope from
   1976 until 1978, for which he received a daytime Emmy nomination. His
   part was later recast with Daniel Hugh Kelly, reportedly because the
   producers of the show were concerned that having the actor who played
   the Scorpio killer as a lead on a soap opera was detracting their
   audience.

   Robinson has had many one-time and recurring roles on a wide variety of
   television shows. His lengthy television filmography includes guest
   roles on Bonanza, Kung Fu, S.W.A.T., The Streets of San Francisco,
   Kojak, The Incredible Hulk, CHiPs, Mrs. Columbo, The Dukes of Hazzard,
   The A-Team, Moonlighting, L.A. Law, Matlock, Law & Order, Walker, Texas
   Ranger, Murder, She Wrote, The X-Files, Without a Trace, and The
   Practice.

   He met his wife Irene after wrapping a production of Springvoices, and
   the two married in 1970. He has two stepsons from his wife's previous
   marriage and one daughter named Rachel, who became an actor herself. In
   1978 Robinson left acting professionally for five years, and
   concentrated on raising his family in the Los Angeles suburb of
   Idyllwild, California. During that time he taught community theatre for
   middle and high school students, and also worked as a carpenter to
   bring in a regular salary. He returned to acting professionally in the
   mid-1980s.

   In 1986 he played President John F. Kennedy in an episode of the 1980s
   revival of The Twilight Zone, " Profile in Silver." In 1988 he
   portrayed Liberace in a television biopic. With one of Robinson's
   acting trademarks being his effeminate voice, he was well suited for
   the part. Robinson had described it as one of his favorite roles, and
   that, "The most fun was wearing his furs and jewelry and singing 'I'll
   be Seeing You.'" The New York Times review wrote that, "Robinson does
   rather well in the leading role." Robinson also returned to the stage
   in 1993 with a Broadway production of Frank Gilroy's Any Given Day, but
   the play closed after only six weeks.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

   In 1993 Robinson was cast in his first regular television role since
   Ryan's Hope in 1978. He played Elim Garak on Star Trek: Deep Space
   Nine, a Cardassian tailor, with a past as a spy and an assassin. The
   character was intended to be a foil for the character of Julian Bashir
   (played by Siddig el-Fadil, later known as Alexander Siddig), and the
   two were often paired together on-screen. The multidimensional
   character possessed sharp comic timing and an extensive knowledge of
   art and literature. Garak was also a practiced liar. Prior to being
   cast in the role, Robinson knew little of the Star Trek franchise and
   had never seen an episode of any of the television series.

   Robinson was offered the role of Garak after originally auditioned for
   the role of Odo, which eventually went to Rene Auberjonois. He almost
   did not accept the role, but was pressured into accepting because of
   financial reasons. Like the character, he is claustrophobic and at
   first had trouble performing in heavy makeup. His character was
   originally intended to appear in only one episode, but eventually
   became one of the most frequent recurring characters of the series,
   appearing in 41 of the 176 episodes as the writers of the show enjoyed
   working with the character. Originally meant to be an antagonist, the
   character became more sympathetic as the show progressed, and became
   one of the main protagonists by the end of the series. Robinson has
   described the role as being complex, he has said in a StarTrek.com
   interview that, "the subtext is far more powerful than the actual text.
   Garak for me was like an iceberg. The tip is easy to define, but it's
   the rest of the character that's the challenge."

   After working on Deep Space Nine for several years, Robinson began a
   career in television directing, after directing the 1996 episode "
   Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places." He went on to direct two
   episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and seven episodes of the courtroom
   drama Judging Amy, where his daughter Rachel Robinson played a
   recurring character. In 2000 he authored the novel A Stitch in Time,
   based on his character on Deep Space Nine. Robinson has stated that one
   of the reasons he wrote the novel was to get "total closure" of the
   character.

   In 1993 Robinson founded the Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles.
   Currently he is heading a MFA program in acting at the University of
   Southern California, and also directs performances for the Matrix
   Company. Robinson and his Deep Space Nine co-star Alexander Siddig are
   also known to perform one act plays at Star Trek conventions.

Filmography

Film

   Year            Film                   Role
   1971 Dirty Harry                 Scorpio
   1973 Charley Varrick             Harman Sullivan
   1975 The Drowning Pool           Pat Reavis
   1975 A Woman for All Men         Steve McCoy
   1985 Mask                        Dr. Vinton
   1986 Cobra                       Monte
   1987 The Verne Miller Story      Pretty Boy Floyd
   1987 Hellraiser                  Larry Cotton
   1988 Shoot to Kill               Harvey
   1991 Child's Play 3              Sgt. Botnick
   1991 Prime Target                Commissioner
   1994 There Goes My Baby          Frank
   1994 The Puppet Masters          Hawthorne
   1994 Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings Sean Braddock
   1998 Running Woman               Captain Don Gibbs
   2004 Homeland Security           Senator

Television

   Year Program Role Other notes
   1976– 1978 Ryan's Hope Frank Ryan #2 Daytime Emmy nomination
   1976– 1980 Barnaby Jones (Various) Recurring
   1980 Vega$ Derek Razzio Recurring
   1988 Liberace Liberace Made-for-television film
   1993– 1999 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Garak Directed one episode
   1994 M.A.N.T.I.S. Solomon Box Recurring
   1999, 2004 JAG Admiral Thomas Kly Recurring
   1997– 1998 Star Trek: Voyager   Directed two episodes
   1999– 2005 Judging Amy Daniel McGill Directed seven episodes
   2002 Presidio Med Jesse Recurring
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Robinson"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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